Monday, January 12, 2009

Open Range Gains $100M

Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Open Range Communications, which provides high speed broadband Internet to rural communities, said late Friday that it has scored $100M in an investment from One Equity Partners. Open Range provides high speed Internet using satellite communications from Globalstar, targeting 546 underserved and rural communities. According to the firm, the new funding triggers a $267 million Broadband Access Loan from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Utilities Program (RDUP), which was contingent on raising private financing. Open Range said it will launch its Internet service to serve more than six million citizens in rural areas using WiMax technology, within five years. One Equity Partners is the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. More information »